‘It would be a little hypocritical, wouldn’t it?’: Deconstructing the flaws in Labor’s energy policy

If yesterday’s Newspoll is any indication, the stage is set for a major Coalition defeat at the next federal election.

With Scott Morrison becoming the first PM in nearly 30 years not to receive a post-spill bounce in the polls after a leadership change, it looks as though the Labor Party will pick up power with ease.

So Michael McLaren thought it was an appropriate time to put the spotlight on Labor’s policy. He took Labor Senator Murray Watt to task on the party’s energy agenda, questioning how their 45-50% emission targets will be achieved without compromising reliability and escalating prices.

“Renewables have now become a much, much more reliable and cheaper form of electricity,” says Senator Watt.

“With the advances you’re seeing, they have actually now got to a point where they are cheaper and more reliable than traditional coal-fired power stations.”

It was an argument that Michael was quick to try and invalidate.

“You can’t seriously make the claim that wind generation is more reliable then coal-fired power?”

“Australia, we’ve got 7% of the world’s black coal reserves, 24% of the world’s brown coal reserves, 257 trillion cubic feet of gas and 34% of the world’s uranium resources. Yet we have some of the highest power prices in the world and a pretty unreliable grid?”

“Leaving party politics aside, is that not the clearest example we have of the schmozzle that is leadership in this nation? With those resources, coupled with these prices, we have been let down as voters.”

Watt went on to stress the significance of not getting caught up in divisive ideological camps when it comes to power, stressing the “importance” of retaining our Paris targets.

But Michael was keen to showcase some of the hypocrisy that comes with our virtue-signalling in and around emission reductions.

“ In 2017-18, in your own state of QLD, the state Labor Government pulled in $3.16 billion in coal royalties alone. It would be a little hypocritical wouldn’t it? Reducing our coal usage but allowing the export of Australian coal to some pretty big-emitting economies around the world and cashing the cheque in the process?